It's What We Do
by Lady Starhawk
Summary: Crossover with the Crow.  Same 'verse as "Eliot has a Secret"; Eliot uses his powers on someone who hurt Parker as a child. This may just become a 'verse.


Title: It's What We Do.

Author: Lady Starhawk

Rating: PG

Pairing: Eliot/Parker Friendship

Summary: Same 'verse as "Eliot has a Secret"; Eliot uses his powers on someone who hurt Parker as a child.

Note: Vague, nonspecific, implied previous child abuse in the first section. Skip to the last part if you need to.

Eliot got out of the truck. He checked the address one more time, then sent the crow to scope out the area.

It had been a week since Moreau had been locked up. He was going to spend the rest of his life in that tiny little cell below the palace. Eliot almost felt sorry for the man, almost. Nate had gifted the team with a few weeks of downtime since the clock was no longer ticking and Nate was a free man.

Eliot was spending his time wisely. He had taken the images Parker had given him accidentally over the years from her touches and found the one person who had done the most damage to the Thief's psyche. It had taken all of the skills that Eliot had learned from Hardison to track the man down, but Glen Simon was about to get a visit he would never forget.

He focused on the bird's sight, and saw that nobody else seemed to be around. The neighborhood was quiet and the few people that did see him didn't think he was out of place in his plaid shirt, work boots, and well worn looking truck. It was a working class neighborhood. The kind Eliot himself had grown up in. The kind that Parker should have grown up happily in.

Eliot went around to the back door and picked the lock, a skill he picked up from Parker. He was able to enter the door without a sound. The black bird perched itself on the windowsill watching, and waiting.

Eliot silently moved down the steps. He could hear a television on and the sound of a can being opened. Most likely beer, if Parker's memories were anything to go by. He got to the bottom of the steps and saw the back of a man on the couch. There was a huge flat-screen tv on one wall showing a football game. Electronics littered the room, and more than one animal head hung on the wall.

Glen hadn't heard him yet. This was the part that Eliot found just a little bit fun.

"Glen." Eliot said in a conversational tone.

The man shot up and dropped the beer on the floor as he spun to face the intruder. "Who the hell are you?"

Eliot smirked a bit and advanced on the man, "Names are unimportant right now Glen. I'm here on behalf of a little girl you were once responsible for."

Glen backed up a step and straightened a bit. "I fostered for over ten years man, there were a lot of little girls I was responsible for."

Eliot vaulted the back of the couch and sat down and got comfortable. "This was one very special little girl. Blonde hair, blue eyes, clever and full of life." Eliot took a handful of chips and cracked open a beer.

"No idea who you're talking about man. Now get out of my house." Glen took another step back and ended up against the wall.

"Sure you do. Little 'thief' named Parker." Eliot saw the spark of fear in the man's eyes for the first time, but he remained silent. "Aah, you _do_ remember her."

Eliot put his arms along the back of the couch, "I know everything you did to her Glen." Eliot took a long pull from the expensive imported beer. "Everything you said, and every little thing you did."

Glen seemed frozen in place. "What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" Eliot set down the bottle and gracefully stood up in a fluid motion, "Or do you not remember the hell you put that little girl through?"

Glen seemed to snap out of it at that, "I didn't do anything to her she didn't deserve. I didn't do anything to any of 'em they didn't deserve. "

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You really believe that, don't you?" Eliot stepped right up to Glen, who continued to look straight into Eliot's eyes. "You honestly believe that you didn't hurt those kids."

Eliot's smirk changed sinister and he put a hand in the middle of Glen's chest and pinned him to the wall. "My friend's memories say otherwise _Glen_. I've been gathering them up over the years. All the pain, all the embarrassment, every little thing you did to her, and made her do is right here. The punishments, the jobs, everything that you did to hurt her."

"Please don't kill me" Glen whimpered.

Eliot ignored him and reached for Glen's face, "And you get to experience it all in Technicolor."

Glen and Eliot both stiffened at the contact, and a few seconds later Glen started to scream. Six months of torture at his hand was delivered to Glen in a matter of seconds. Eliot released him and Glen started sobbing as he slid to the ground.

"That's why I'm not going to kill you Glen. I want you to live with the pain that Parker has spent her life with. Enjoy the memories Mr. Simon."

Eliot left the man sobbing and blubbering on the floor. The crow met him as he came out the back door. "Let's go home Bird."

LEVTCLEVTCLEVTCLEVTC

Eliot was kicked back in a lounge chair in the garden on the top of his building. He owned the building and rented out the rest of the place to people who needed a break. He didn't charge them much for rent, and let them work on the building in exchange.

It had been a week since he had visited Glen Simon, and he just read the Obituaries for his town online this morning. Apparently Glen had killed himself 3 days ago, and left all of his money to an organization that helps place children for adoption.

Eliot wasn't surprised. Very rarely had he needed to kill his targets himself. He would just give them the pain from their victims and let them do the rest. Some learned a lesson, some went insane, and some took their own lives rather than living with what they had done.

He took a long pull from his beer and watched the sun slowly sinking below the line of buildings. The sky was red and the clouds were pink. It was his favorite time of day.

Eliot heard the door to the roof open but didn't hear footsteps. He knew it had to be Parker.

She nodded. "I stole a book from a shaman. It had a story about Crows." Eliot tensed up, unsure how to react, "Does what you didn't want me to ask about with Moreau have to do with how you died?"

Eliot took a deep breath, he had never lied to the thief on anything important, and wasn't going to start now. He knew her past, and wouldn't do that to her. So he answered with the truth, "Yes."

Parker nodded. "I'm not going to ask. And I am not going to tell."

Eliot smiled a bit when she said that. "Thank you darlin'."

She moved and perched by his feet at the base of the lounge chair. It felt like she had something else she wanted to say, but he knew that if he waited long enough she would start talking.

Finally she took a deep breath, "Thank you."

"For what?"

She looked straight at him, he felt like she was looking through him. "Glen."

Eliot nodded and took a long pull from his beer. "'Course sweetheart."

"Why?" She turned and looked at the horizon.

At that moment a big black bird came and perched on the ledge of the building.

"It's what we do."

She held her hand out to the bird, and it hopped over and pecked at her shoe, she didn't try to touch it. "Does he have a name?"

Eliot shook his head, "Nope, I mostly just call him Bird."

"So what happens if Bird gets hurt?"

Eliot stiffened, but told her the truth, "I get hurt. And if he dies, so do I."

Parker nodded. "That wasn't in the book." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "So we have to keep Bird safe too."

"Yup."

Parker curled up and laid her head on Eliot's jean-clad legs. "How did you know about Glen?"

He answered truthfully. "You gave your memories to me."

Parker seemed to think this over for a minute before she nodded, "It's why you don't let people touch you, it's not because you're grumpy, but because they give you their memories."

"Yup."

The sun had finished going down before she spoke again, "Do you want me to stop touching you?"

Eliot smiled at that, "Only if you want to."

"Kay." Parker pulled up the cuff on Eliot's jeans and touched him.

"There's something wrong with you." He said as she transmitted a happy memory from her childhood to him.

The Crow cawed and flew away.


End file.
